John Ruscoe (also Ruskoe) Norwalk Vol. 1
/ref>(1623 – 1702) was a founding

settler A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...

of Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. He was born in 1623, in

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon in Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin, east of the City of London. The town was founded in the 13th century by the Stratford Langthorne Abbey, Abbot of West Ham, ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

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, son of William Ruscoe, and Rebecca. His parents and their four youngest children departed from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

aboard the ship ''Increase'' in 1635, but his mother Rebecca died on the voyage. John and his brother

Nathaniel Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Hebrew name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. ...

remained in England, presumably to manage a farm there and to earn money to send to their father until he had established himself in America. This was a common practice at the time. William arrived in Boston in June 1635, and upon arrival soon married the only widow in the Newton settlement, Hester Mussey. In 1836, the family joined

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational church, Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was know ...

in settling

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. Shortly after John arrived in Hartford he married Rebecca Beebe. John Ruscoe was one of the fourteen original signers of the Ludlow agreement to create a settlement at Norwalk. He was the owner of Half-Mile Island, the peninsula located east of Canfield Avenue on Shorehaven Road. He is listed on the Founders Stone bearing the names of the founding settlers of Norwalk in the

East Norwalk Historical Cemetery __NOTOC__ Established in , the East Norwalk Historical Cemetery is Norwalk's oldest cemetery, and many of the area's first settlers are buried there. The cemetery is owned and maintained by the Third Taxing District, formally known as the East Nor ...

References

5. Connecticut Nutmegger, Vol 36, 2003, Robert W. Hull, CSG 12,200. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruscoe, John 1623 births 1702 deaths American Puritans Huguenots Settlers of Norwalk, Connecticut People from Billericay People from Essex (before 1965)